Thoughts on topic of bf in public

[laila 44]

Just wondering where u all stand on this. I bf my kids and have done so in public albeit respectfully. By this I mean I didn't expose my breasts for ppl to see etc. I always used a cover or went to a bf room/area. This mainly bc i would be shy/uncomfortable exposing my breasts. Recently in a resto near my house they asked a woman to leave bc she apparently was making customers uncomfortable and ppl were complaining. This lady was in a resto bf with no cover totally topless lol. I find that a tad extreme. I think there's nothing wrong with bf in public but I would be uncomfortable myself if I were totally topless. What are your thoughts?

 

[LaughOutLoud]

I guess it just depends on how comfortable you are with your body. Like you I breastfed but always covered but that's how I usually am, so not to expose myself is what I'm comfortable with myself. Each to their own.

 

[Christie2011]

The closest I've come to breastfeeding in public is parked in my car in a public lot and even then I covered up. I'm all for discrete breastfeeding in public, but I think far too many seem to be using the excuse to expose too much.

Edit: Whenever I was going to be out longer and I knew baby would need a feeding I'd bring a few bottles of pumped milk.

 

[SaraVO]

I'm completely committed to breastfeeding, it seems very, very important to me. I can't really say that I'm going to want to do it in eye sight of anybody but my husband. I think I'll probably find a restroom or go to my car to breast feed and even so I can't ever envisioning myself not covering up. But, that's just me and I'm a very modest woman. My husband will ask me specifically to wear tops that show an inch or two of cleavage because even that is a lot for me.

 

[misspriss]

My children are breastfed in public when needed. I would never take my meals in a restroom or under a blanket, don't expect my babies to either!

I wear nursing shirts with discreet openings or wear a cami under a shirt and pull the shirt up and cami down, it is not an "excuse to expose myself", I am nourishing my child.

 

[wannabemomy37]

I'm all for bf in public if a baby is hungry then it's our job to feed them. The thing with bf now seems it's becoming more of an issue of exposing too much. How hard is it to attempt to cover? Not because we're embarrassed but because it's about our children, not our bodies.

Bf topless in public is beyond inappropriate if you ask me. Being topless in public is illegal, and bf should be no excuse.

 

[hotpinklily84]

There are too many perverted men out there for me personally to expose my breast in public I would be okay doing this In front of women but I catch men looking at my breast in a regular t shirt.

 

[misspriss]

I seriously doubt the woman was totally top less, it sounds like a media thing. I would not be making such claims on the Internet unless I had seen the woman do it myself, the OP did not say she saw it it sounds like she just heard a report of it.

 

[laila 44]

I wasn't there myself but a friend of mine was. It was a local resto near my home. The woman had pulled her shirt down completely to bf and both breasts were fully exposed. There were younger children that were very uncomfortable too. The restaurant owners asked her to cover up a tad and when she refused they asked her to leave. Like I said I'm all for bf but I think it's becoming silly how the extremes that people take things. My DH for example is very uncomfortable when we go see friends that just gave birth in hospital he always pokes his head in and asks if it's ok he comes in, incase baby is being fed and doing skin to skin.

 

[tgrich]

I always cover up to the best of my ability the only time i wasn't able to was when I forgot my nursing cover but still used my shirt to cover most of my breast. I feel that if you don't want to cover up you shouldn't have to but you should not able to have both breasts hanging out there is no need for that.

 

[tgrich]

I always cover up to the best of my ability the only time i wasn't able to was when I forgot my nursing cover but still used my shirt to cover most of my breast. I feel that if you don't want to cover up you shouldn't have to but you should not able to have both breasts hanging out there is no need for that.

 

[Dory85]

I breastfed both my children and intend to with my third. I refuse to use a cover in order to make others feel comfortable about me using my body for its intended purpose.
I have yet to meet someone who enjoys exposing themselves to breastfeed just so that others can see. That is just ridiculous.

 

[Amygdala]

How much or how little a woman "exposes" during breastfeeding is her business and her business alone. I seriously doubt that many women whip out their breasts because they enjoy showing them off. It's just more practical sometimes.
I've always fed my babies wherever necessary. I'm not hugely (body) confident so I always cover up as much as I can, for myself. But you know what? Sometimes that's a real pain! My first HATED being covered with a Muslim for a while (don't blame her personally) and it made breastfeeding a lot more complicated that it would have been if I'd had the confidence to just whip out a boob. So if someone does, more power to her!
I don't see an issue at all with children being around. It's a woman's body, doing what it was designed to do. Children get exposed to quite explicitly sexualised imagines of women in advertising and tv from a very young age these days, and people worry about a bit of functional, non-sexual nakedness? Come on!
And any adult who is made to feel "uncomfortable" can easily avert their gaze. Job done.

Having said all that, I have never ever had a negative reaction to breastfeeding in public. I've had an old lady come over in a cafe to congratulate me , I've had people talking to the baby while attached to my boob , but never so much as a dirty look from anyone. It's really not that big of a deal. They're just boobs, people!

 

[Ganton]

I breasted my two and fully intend to feed this one. I don't use a cover and don't move somewhere more private just to feed my baby. However, I try to be as discreet as possible whilst making sure my baby has good comfortable access to me. I've had people come over to me in cafés and ask how old the baby is etc and stroke their head, and they obviously thought I was just cuddling my baby rather than feeding. Getting completely topless in public seems excessive and even I'd take a second glance to make sure I wasn't imagining things. The only time I've seen sometime do that was in a special breast feeding group with a brand new baby that was being helped with poor latch, which is obviously a completely different situation.

 

[angelmum31]

I breastfed my dd and intend to with this one but I always used a muslin or cover. Personally I feel uncomfortable seeing a woman 'exposed' in a coffee shop or restaurant so I wont do it myself. Going to a designated baby feeding area is different and much more confortable in my opinion - my dd had a bad latch so fiddling to get her on was a challenge and I may have exposed myself more then but never deliberately.

 

[Misscalais]

I don't have any problems with seeing breast feeding in public. Most ive seen usually have a cover but the ones that haven't you can't see anything. I think if it makes you uncomfortable you're paying too much attention and should stop looking. I only managed to bf my 2nd bub my others i had to stop at 6 and 5 weeks.
But when i bf my 2nd bub we almost always wore a cover because he actually fed better with it on.
But breast feeding completely topless in public, NO! Lol i didn't even do that at home.

 

[JJay]

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4769572

 

[AngelofTroy]

I breastfed in public and didn't use a cover but you couldn't see much anyway, baby's head covered the breast and I wore nursing tops. If baby was struggling to latch sometimes I'd probably flash a bit if nipple but that's just too bad if someone is offended.

 

[LilMiss_91]

I didn't breastfeed my son for very long due to a lot of issues which resulted in my supply slowing and then stopping altogether. I was very very modest/shy about feeding and wouldn't do it in front of even my mum/sister (both of whom have breastfed). I didn't even do it in front of the midwives until I had to show them my technique when he was refusing to latch on. This stems from me having a hatred deep and pure for my breasts. I hate them there are no two ways about it so if I can possibly help anybody seeing them and knowing how horrible they are, then I will! I would sit in the car, go in another room or find a quiet private corner etc.
This time I want to try and be a bit braver, even if it just means staying in a "public" place and using a cover. But it partly depends on baby as I had to use 2 hands right the way through each feed with my son, to get him latched and to keep him latched, so using a cover was just too hard to juggle.
I don't have a problem seeing women breastfeed in public but it would make me uncomfortable seeing someone who felt the need to go completely topless. On the other hand, I love seeing women doing it in nifty ways or in unusual places! I saw a woman walking along with a baby in a sling (a connecta type) hands-free feeding which I thought was pretty nifty! And a woman who had stopped and was perched on a concrete post (ouuchh!) feeding her LO. Now that's dedication. And goes to prove, when baby's hungry, they gotta eat!

 

[AP]

Going topless is completely unnecessary. I used to use nursing tops and I loved them, they were fantastic. I'd feed in a restrurant , but-I never took my babies to restrurants. Just seemed like a hassle to me.